Funeral Games

Public games were held both in Greece and Rome in honour of the honoured dead. Examples of this custom are numerous: as at the death of Azan (son of Arcas, father of the Arcadians); the games instituted by Hercules at the death of Pelops; those held at the death of Œdipus; the games held by Achilles in honour of his friend Patroclos (Homer: Iliad, book xxiii.); those held by Ænēas in honour of his father Anchīsʹes (Virgil: Ænēid, book v.); the games held in honour of Miltiădēs (Herodotos); those in honour of Brasĭdas (Thucydĭdēs); and those in honour of Timolĕon mentioned on Plutarch. The spectators at these games generally dressed in white.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.